Make Dance Fun

Latest Episodes:

Performing Company Structure May 13, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 20, we are sharing how we structure our performing companies at Rhythm! It's Important to us that we can offer many opportunities to the dancers at Rhythm. We've grown into 11 Performing Companies and 5 Spotlight Programs.

Mini Stars: Youngest group, approx age 6-7, required to be at the studio 2 days/wk for jazz, tap, ballet & hip hop. Most also take an optional contemporary class. They have a few weekend rehearsals, attend conventions and compete jazz, HH and tap at 3 competitions.

Connection: Intermediate, entry level company. It’s extremely desirable because the commitment isn’t overwhelming from a time or financial standpoint and they can still do other activities while remaining a big part of our studio culture. 4 different age groups: Minis, Juniors, Teens and Seniors all required to take weekly classes in jazz, hip hop and ballet; plus we have a tap company they can audition for. They compete at 3 non workshop, intermediate level competitions, with no solos or nationals, and attend one convention per year.

Fusion: Intermediate/advanced company with two levels: Teen and Senior. This is a higher commitment company for dancers who have the ability and talent to compete/perform at an advanced level, but are not ready for or not interested in the full Edge commitment. They take one class each in jazz, tap, hip hop, contemporary & body awareness + 2 weekly ballet classes. They compete in jazz, tap, hip hop and contemporary and have an opportunity to audition for an extra group that varies in style from year to year. They attend 3 conventions and compete at 2, and also attend 3 competitions without workshops.

Edge: Our highest level performing company and requires the highest commitment time-wise and financially for the 4 levels: minis, juniors, teens and seniors. This group attends 5 conventions throughout the season, competes at all 5 of those, and then also attends nationals over the summer. Beyond nationals and national rehearsals, they have a required summer intensive at the end of the summer. Each group competes in all styles as a company, but also audition for extra pieces: small groups, productions and/or guest artists and solos.

Spotlight: Not part of our actual company, it’s an invitation only group that is a stepping stone should the dancers eventually want to audition for company. We have 5 different age levels. It's for the dancers who aren’t quite ready for company or love doing a little more, but don’t want the commitment of company. They are required to take 1 jazz class and 1 ballet class, scheduled back-to-back for convenience. Many of them take optional additional classes. At the end of the season, they compete jazz at one competition and they love it! It just gives them a little taste of what the companies do and sometimes it sparks more interest.
Each company has a director who takes ownership of all the responsibilities! We have an amazing team that understands our vision and culture and can foster that within each company or invitation only group!

Subscribe & Share
You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll repost!

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Motivation to Make It Through May! May 06, 2021

Show notes

May is the craziest time of year for dance studios! So we are sharing a few things that are motivating us to push through and make it to the finish line.
1. Vacation! It's so important to take time off and do nothing dance related, even if it is a staycation! Inspiring destinations can sometimes spark creativity for your studio. Our plan is to take most of June off since we took no time off this past year+ due to Covid!

We always find inspiration when traveling - whether for work or personally! For example, we spent our working Spring Break in Nashville and loved it! You may even see a fun Nashville-inspired Camp Confetti next year! It also inspired us to come up with a name for our little covered picnic area we created this season: Rhythm Ranch! Palm Springs is a favorite destination for us and it inspired our Boho Desert Bash Camp Confetti, a few mini jazz themes and tons of decor!

2. The possibility of getting together with other teachers and studio owners again, whether it’s at a conference or doing it on our own.

More Than Just Great Dancing - July 19-20 (Member Rally) and Teacher Training July 23-34
Dance Teacher Web - Vegas July 23-26 (Confetti will be there)
Dance Life Teacher Conference - Connecticut - July 27- 30 (Confetti will be there)
Energize - Revolution - Oct 1-3 in Chicago

3. Podcasts! Summer is a great time to catch up on podcast episodes we didn't have time to listen to throughout the season. We are currently the loving:

Transform My Dance Studio podcast takeover with Kim McSwain! There are so many great ones - read through all the titles to find the one you need to hear!
Stacy Tuschle
Second Life (non-dance)
Amy Porterfield (non-dance)

We know you guys are in the same boat we are right now and feel like you’re never going to get everything done. But, you will (and we will), and hopefully this has helped inspire you to think about the fun stuff you have coming up once the crazy is over. Obviously, we are looking forward to seeing all our hard work come together for our shows, but you have to have something beyond that to look forward to when the crazy calms down. Put something on your calendar now and look at it every day for motivation!
Subscribe & Share
You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll repost!

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Summer Camp Director Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 18, we're diving back into summer with our Summer Camp Director (and Rhythm alum and Connection Performing Company Director), Emily Salerno.

Pre-Emily, we would launch summer enrollment in Jan/Feb and then we would not plan anything else until right before camps started - staffing, planning, shopping, etc. Now with Emily and Camp Confetti we are in a much better position!

General timeline for the year: Nov: set preliminary dates (factor in key staff summer availability); Jan: assign main themes to each camp, create collateral (summer camp brochure, website) and launch registration, plan launch week theme with special discount, April: finalize teachers; May: confirm assistants, send out Camp Confetti packets for staff to review/plan; June: order/purchase supplies.

Organizational Tools: Google Docs. Forms, Calendar & Sheets; Dropbox to hold all Camp Confetti in one place for all the teachers, Twirl to Go!

Canva - advertising/marketing/graphics - summer packet (5-6 page packet with dates, cost, times, etc.) and smaller 1-page flyer. Tip: Added a QR code linked to our packet so parents could scan it from our door and access out packet.

Camp Prep Process: May: reminders, plan and shop for the camps that start early summer; send themes to the camp leads so they can shop for their own items; 2 weeks before camp: create day to day camp breakdown - schedule for each day, activities, crafts; One week prior: craft shopping for next week's camp, staff reminders, hours required- assistants required to stay to help set up crafts for next day craft prep. Friday before camp starts, breakdown decor and set up for next week camp.
Camp Confetti Invitation Printing Hack: Avery Shipping Labels - 4 to a page. The stickers make it easier for preschoolers to stick instead of glue.

Parent Communications: Wed-Fri week before camp begins - schedule, what to wear, location, showcase time; additional reminders daily for what to wear/bring.
Tip: Keep summer camp fun - dancers don't have to be perfect - they are coming off their recital, keep it fun and look at it as marketing for your studio.

If you are not in a position to hire a director, take a few of these tips and delegate some of the tasks to open up time for you to focus on other things or maybe even take a little time off. Start somewhere, start small and build on that position as you can!

Join our (FREE) Confetti Circle
Request to join our private (and FREE) Facebook Group
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Finish Your Season with FUN! Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 17, we're sharing 5 ways to add FUN to the last several weeks of your dance season.
Share the Love! Get your dancers sharing their love for your studio as the season comes to an end. Create a fun coloring page with your studio logo and email it to every dancer to color/decorate as the wish. Have them take a photo in their recital costume holding the sign and post/tag you on social media. You can then share it and share studio love! NOTE: Canva Font referenced in this section: RIG SOLID BOLD HALFTO.
WOW your dancers with our WOW Cards! Dancers of all ages love to be rewarded for their hard work! A perfect way to do that is to give each of them a WOW Card - our colorful and fun tiny compliment cards that come in a box of 500 (we have 2 versions)! They are appropriate for all ages and include 25 each of 20 different designs! You can attach them to candy, stickers or certificates (Twirl customers!) or goodie bags to hand out in short ceremony at the end of your last class, leaving everyone feeling proud and happy! Check out #wowcarded to see how studios are using them!
Camp Confetti! While these fun downloads are designed for a 3-5 day camp session, you can use them so many ways: A short, free summer camp demonstration using one of the activities/games; a mini-mester, extra sessions during breaks and more!
Themed Registration Launch Week! Plan a launch for when your schedule and registration go live. Offer discounts/incentives to those who sign up during this week, give away a branded gift to the first X# students, hold drawings for free costumes, one month tuition credits, and even offer one grand prize of a free year of dance. Another fun prize is to select a few students at random to be used in a photo shoot over the summer to promote your fall classes! Kids love a photo shoot and obviously would love to be featured in photos! Use these photos to promote your fall classes in flyers, on your website and on social media! It’s a win win!
You could hold a themed event (outside if you aren’t back in the studio) using one of our Twirl to Go downloads to hold short preview classes on a Saturday! The point is to offer something that is fun and engaging as a short preview on your registration week to get dancers in the studio!
Company Awards/Party! We host a big party for our company dancers to celebrate their accomplishments for the year. Each dancer receives a specific award tied to a fun t-shirt. We create custom laminated bag tags with their name and award. The award names are always in the theme of the show! Ex: Everlasting Gobstopper for our Wonka themed show for the dancer who has non-stop energy, Fizzy Lifting Leaps for the dancer who has great jumps.
Subscribe & Share
You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll repost!

Join our (FREE) Confetti Circle

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Recital Fun Part 3 Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 16, we're back with Part 3 of our Recital Fun series talking about how we finalize our year-end show plans and communicate to our customers.

Spring Break Planning Week: We've use Spring Break to finish up major show planning because we don’t have our usual day to day to deal with. We go somewhere fun and are very productive! Our typical solid "formula" doesn't quite work under covid, so this year takes a lot of extra planning. We bring one or two staff members along and focus on our packet, graphics, decor and more.

Year-End Show Packet: This 15-20 page packet holds ALL the details of our year-end show for our families in an easy to digest Q& A format, filled with colorful images and graphics to draw the reader in. We create a chart that includes each class, day & time, routine title, date and time of show, day and time of dress rehearsal, hairstyle, and shoes/tights/ leggings/accessories or any other accessories. We also include the running order of each show. We also hold several meetings to review all the details with parents in person or virtually and create short videos they can watch on our IGTV.

Designing Final Graphics for the Show: We create logos and artwork that we use in all our materials. We start by sketching out our ideas and sending to our graphic designer to execute along with a project list and due dates. Check out #rhythmfrozen to see how we've started branding the show, building excitement and keeping our clients updated!

Orders/Renaming Routines: This big task creates a flow that tells the story. We create fun names for each of the dances (including company dances) in line with the theme, like Elsa’s Fancy Ice Capades, Olaf’s Snowy Shuffle, Ice Ice Rhythm, and Let it Glow!

Character Involvement: Our characters are members of our Senior performing company and they play a large role in several of our pieces! They will be coming into the classes over the next few weeks to learn their parts. This is always something that adds a ton of fun to the routines, and the little ones are beyond excited to have Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Sven in their dances!

Finalizing Sets/Props: Our next big task is figuring out props and set building. We use makeshift props in most classes until the real props are ready. Our creative and talented staff get super crafty and help us create all our sets.

Tech Week: We usually hold a “tech week” at the studio and rent pipe and drape, cover the mirrors and have each class come into our big studio and run their dance for us. We take notes, determine lighting, review character involvement and props and just confirm we understand what is going on in each dance. This year, our tech week will actually be our dress rehearsal so we will go full out and have a backdrop and photo ops and more for dancers.

We hope you’ll be able to use some of these ideas to help you in the final stages of your show planning and they will hopefully make things easier for you and your customers.

Join our (FREE) Con

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Dance Friends Are The Best Friends Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 15, our Studio Owner BFF Christy Curtis, owner of CC&Co Dance Complex in Raleigh, NC, is with us, and we're sharing a little about her, our friendship and how she inspires and motivates us!

Christy has trained some of the most incredible dancers and choreographers: Martha Nichols, Ariana Dubose, Kirsten Russell, Sarah Pippin and Jake Tribus to name a few! She is so well respected in our industry for her energetic and outgoing personality as well as her passion, grit and true love of dance! We met on a Break The Floor teacher retreat in Hawaii and quickly our studios were similar size and mindsets with many of the same issues and goals for studio growth!

Over the years, our friendships and our businesses have grown, changed and leveled up! We leaned on each other greatly during covid. We are always learning, educating ourselves and wanting to make all aspects of our businesses stronger! We continually motivate and inspire each other!

We discuss the Darren Hardy podcast and how Christy starts her day with the Darren Daily. Christy discussed how she motivates her team, especially the past year during covid.

ID staff strengths and lean into their high achieving abilities
Vulnerability - there is a lot I don’t know and I share that often
Trust staff and let them co create and own their project
Lots of Instagram shares, staff weekly update through MailChimp, live resources document, SLACK channel, gratitude channel, teacher training and get togethers

We love how quickly and efficiently Christy makes decisions and takes action. She shares that it goes along with trust and that she will move quickly if she believes in the person, product or idea. She also gets bored easily so loves to try new things, is OK if something doesn't work out, and always thinking ahead. She discusses using assistants to keep her organized so she can stay on task, even though it is hard!

To stay motivated, she loves talking with her dance friends, learning new ways to operate, joining like-minded, high level achiever groups: MTJGD, DH Hero Journey, The Locality (locally in Raleigh), podcasts on every morning, finding time to get away, travel, music, clothes, art scene. She has had an executive coach for 7 years, always working on weaknesses.

We talk about our get togethers/trips/zoom calls and phone check ins.

To learn more about Christy, check out the Confetti Conversation we had with her a couple years ago on our blog.
Christy is such a great friend and inspiring human, and she motivates and inspires us daily! So, take our advice (and Darren Hardy’s) and FIND AND HANG OUT WITH AWESOME PEOPLE!

Remember….Dance Friends are the Best Friends!

Join o

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Recital Fun - Part 2 Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

In episode 14, we are back with Part 2 of our Recital Fun podcast and discuss ordering costumes, announcing our characters, props, production value, and our opening number!

Ordering Costumes: We review catalogs and decide on all costumes at recital retreat with our key staff. Once a costume is confirmed, we add the details such as catalog, wholesale cost, color and accessories into our master spreadsheet so it’s easily accessible when it’s time to actually place the order. If we can't find the perfect costume, we improvise by creating some of our own things and mixing with pieces from a catalog.

Announcing Characters: We use our Edge Performing Company dancers for characters as they already perform in every show! We usually choose graduating seniors as main characters and then they are also included in many of the preschool productions. We announce the characters on Instagram just like our show, and the kids start asking us about who the characters are right after we post the show! It creates lots of fun anticipation about the show! Once announced, we use them to promote the show. We also have a fun tradition of creating big posters of the characters that we use as decor at the show. Then, these posters hang in the studio as fun memory for everyone!

Props & Production Value: We call all our preschool class dances preschool productions. We create an experience for the kids and audience that feels like a 3-4 minute show within itself. This creates a memorable WOW factor and prompts many to register for next season right after the show.

Take basic props a step further. EX: We bought a small electric kids' toy Ford F150 a few years ago and covered it in colorful duct tape to coordinate with our theme and had an older dancer drive it onto the stage in the middle of one of the preschool productions hauling giant piece of wrapped "candy" for kids to grab.
Create fun background sets with a cut-out for dancers to walk through. EX: giant gum ball machine with a slide in the middle. When the kids slid down onto the stage, it looked like they were little gum balls coming out of the machine.
Incorporate characters into the dance!

Creating the Opening Number: This is a "combo" routine of all 4 of our Edge companies and is one of our favorite things! We are the producers and create the idea, music, costuming and direct it all, but we have the Rhythm faculty and sometimes a guest contribute to the process! It's an amazing way to open our show as it is big, fun and VERY entertaining! We also compete it. The main characters have different costumes and then an separate costume for each company. This is the first year that we have divided up our companies due to covid. We did a Teen/Senior one that will open our show anda mini/junior one the teen senior one that will close act 1.

Episode 15 will include a special fun guest, and then for Episode 16 we will be back with part 3 of Recital Fun where we will dive deeper into our spring break planning week and all the final to-dos on our list.

Subscribe & Share

You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll repost!

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Recital Fun - Part 1 Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 13, we are talking all things recital! In Part 1 of 3, we cover choosing a location and a theme, announcing your show and our recital retreat!
Location of show: In normal years, our is theater booked a year in advance. In pandemic times, we have to flex! Due to restrictions at our theater, we had to find a new space for this year: a large convention space at a cool hotel near our studio! We are excited but overwhelmed with the work and creativity required since it is not a theater. We will build out a full stage, wings, dressing space and bring in a production company for lighting and sound.
Choosing a Theme: We start this process early in the season and announce in the Fall. We create a brand around the theme and use it all year to build anticipation! Story driven themes work best for us...if preschoolers AND dads know the storyline and characters, it's much easier!

Once the theme is confirmed, the brainstorming and research begins BEFORE we announce the show: watch the movie, take notes, discuss what parts/characters/concepts would be best for specific classes, purchase books, scour Pinterest and more BEFORE we announce the show. We take this process very seriously and continues throughout season until we make it to the stage!

Announcing the Show: We make this a really big deal! Our entire studio family gets VERY invested in the theme and announcement day. We reveal on Instagram and drop hints for a few days leading up to it in our stories and posts. These are some of our most engaging posts of the year! We have a show logo and fun announcement ready to go as soon as we announce!

Recital Retreat: This planning retreat with key staff is one of our favorite and most productive things we do all year! We rent a cabin, work around the clock for 3-4 days and plan our entire show. We also work hard to make the weekend fun! As the studio owners, we arrive a day early to set up, buy food (and drinks!), decorate in our theme and assemble goodie bags for everyone! We all watch the movie together and shout out ideas (both good and bad)! You can recreate this concept on a smaller budget, too!

Our task list is crazy, but the most important part: We outline every major task on a poster hanging prominently in our cabin, and we don't leave until it’s all completed! Our most critical tasks include assigning classes to shows, themes and music for all routines, choosing costumes, editing music, dress rehearsal schedule and identifying props and backdrops.

We create a master spreadsheet to store all our decisions in Google Sheets, as multiple people can edit at the same time. We will reference this spreadsheet throughout entire season and it becomes our tech sheet, check list, and so much more!

On next week's episode we will continue this conversation and talk about ordering costumes, announcing our characters, creating our opening number and our props and sets and preschool productions!

Join our (FREE) Confetti Circle

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Q&A with Becca & Dani Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 12, we are answering recent questions you've sent that we hope are fun and beneficial for everyone!
Do you design a new step and repeat for all your events?
No, but we do create a step and repeat each year in the theme of our year-end show in addition to our Rhythm-branded ones. We also recommend retractable banners. We design these along with our graphic designer, and use our local printer to produce them. We prefer the fabric ones over vinyl.
How do you store and organize preschool props?
We invested in big white double-door cabinets for each preschool dance room and styled them super cute. They are a challenge to keep organized over time but our preschool teachers are committed to putting things back where they belong after each class. At the beginning of the new season, we go through everything and donate, toss and replenish where necessary. Check out this blog post!
How do you run your Twirl program and how often do you hold Twirl weeks?
Twirl is our fun preschool program: Learn more here! It is not a curriculum, but a fun supplement that adds a fun dance party each month in class! Our preschool team plans our Twirl calendar at the beginning of season. We use Mailchimp to communicate the dates, themes, reminders and recaps (including photos taken from each class during Twirl week). Check out #rhythmtwirl!
Do you list invitation-only classes publicly on your schedule?
Yes and we note they are invitation only. We have a full description of each class type to educate our customers on what we offer. Advertising them sparks interest to learn more. We are transparent with our process for selecting dancers and encourage them to work hard if they are interested.
How often do you meet with your team?
We meet every Monday with our key staff, including company directors, studio manager, convention/comp registration manager and COO/HR - Shelley (who also runs Confetti!) This meeting often leads to additional one-off meetings. We communicate regularly with our full staff through Basecamp , and we hold several full staff meetings per year either in person or on Zoom.
You’ve been advertising your Frozen recital, what you will be doing this year?
We made the decision in the fall to hold a year-end show of some form and were confident in getting our families excited about it, even without confirmed details. We were hopeful to use our new local theatre, but created multiple alternate plans. We reached out early to several hotels/convention spaces and found an awesome venue near the studio. We put it on hold and this week, we made it all official and shared the exciting news with our whole studio. The feedback has been amazing, and everyone is so excited we can safely hold our fun shows!
Subscribe & Share
You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll re

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Photo Shoot Fun! Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 11, we are sharing our go-to fun photo shoot tips and resources!

Models: Use your own dancers, be diverse in age, ethnicity and dance strengths. Communicate clearly what to bring/wear, obtain a signed photo release. Play music, guide their poses, be patient and explain exactly what you want in the shot. Throw confetti!

Photographer: Go professional, do it with your iPhone or barter with a parent!
Backdrops: Simple clean solid color wall, brick wall, colorful seamless photo backdrop paper, cool walls or fun murals or create your own backdrop based on your theme.
Lighting: Shoot outside or near a large window with light coming in behind camera, use your own lights and/or use apps to edit your photos for brightness.

Styling: Accumulate a collection of clothes and accessories in all sizes and styles, including repurposed costumes. Ask models to bring an old costume or attire that fits theme. Use handheld props and lots of accessories!

Seamless Backdrop Photo Paper
Hang on a photo backdrop stand or use duct tape and tape to the wall.
Atlanta Area: Professional Photo Resources (PPR) - 9ft (107” x 36”). Favorite colors: Sky Blue, Apple, Aspen, Orange, Carnation Pink, Mardi Gras, Thistle, Arctic White.
Elsewhere: check with your local photo supply store for photo backdrop paper
Online supplier: we have used Backdrops Express and had a great experience

Photo Shoot Decor

Backdrop Ideas: Splatter paint, honeycombs, pinwheels, layered metallic fringe streamer curtains, balloon garlands and wrapping paper

Apps for Photo Editing: SnapSeed, ColorStory , Canva, iPhone editing/filters. Listen to Episode 7 - Making it hAPPen for more of our favorite editing apps!

General Inspo: Pinterest, Instagram; Take photos of things you love for 30 days in a row. What is a common denominator? That is your inspiration for what you are doing next! Studio DIY, Oh Joy, Sugar & Cloth - great blogs and photo shoot ideas! Make sure to find YOU in all this inspiration. Don’t just copy other accounts.

Now, go create a fun photoshoot with your dancers at your studio!
Subscribe & Share
You are officially invited to subscribe to our podcast, and we would love you to leave us a 5 star rating and review! We'll share one review each week and send that person a special Confetti prize! We'd also love for you to share our podcast on social media! Tag us and we'll repost!

Let's Get Social!

Join our FREE Confetti Circle
Request to join our private Facebook Group
Follow us on Insta, Facebook and Pinterest

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected